Don’s Top 10 From August 17, 1980

Back...back...back into time once again, this time to Sunday, August 17, 1980. These were the local top 10 singles:

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10

"The Rose" by Bette Midler

(#9 last week) Stunningly, this song (written by Amanda McBroom), which won the Golden Globe for Best Song, wasn't even NOMINATED for an Academy Award in the same category! Huh? Was Better Midler too "out there" in 1980 for the old-fogy Academy members?

9

"Coming Up" by Paul McCartney

(#8 last week) If you flipped over this 45, you had the studio version, "Coming Up", by "Paul McCartney" (no Wings). This studio version is the one most of the world knows, but here in the states, most stations preferred the live version, all except WABC & "American Bandstand", the only two major exceptions who played that weirder studio version. And check the video from the studio version out! Very inventive. McCartney was way ahead on these little art forms. I love how he dressed as his own 1964 self. 16 years later, he hadn't aged a bit.

8

"Fame" by Irene Cara

(#15 last week) One of three movie songs in the top 10! Interesting low-budget "realistic" video. Looks like it was filmed among real NYC crowds. Co-written by Michael Gore, Lesley's brother. Won the Oscar & Golden Globe for Best Song. It wasn't released as a single in the U.K. until 1982, coinciding with the premiere of the TV series. But when it did, it climbed to #1.

7

"Little Jeannie" by Elton John

(#6 last week) For a song that charted so highly, Elton's rarely performed this live. I wonder why. No Bernie Taupin, BTW. Elton co-wrote this with Gary Osborne.

6

"Shining Star" by The Manhattans

(#5 last week() A surprise comeback for these Jersey City natives four years after their #1 smash, "Kiss & Say Goodbye". Won the Grammy for Best R&B Performance by a Duo Or Group.

5

"Take Your Time (Do It Right)" by The SOS Band

(#3 last week) A certified platinum single, when that meant sales of two million copies! For a genre that was supposed to be "dead", disco was doing fine in 1980. Only it's now being called "dance music". Whatever. This Atlanta-based group had only one other hit, the local smash "Just Be Good To Me" in 1983.

4

"Tired Of Toein' The Line" by Rocky Burnette

(#2 last week) The son of the died-too-young early 60s crooner Johnny Burnette hits big with this retro-tinged rocker, which could have been a hit in that same era. Given the mass-appeal sound here, it's been a very underplayed "classic hit". Peaked at #2 locally!

3

"Magic" by Olivia Newton-John

(#3 last week) Olivia really made a lot of guys happy with her image transformation starting with "Grease", continuing with the "Totally Hot" album, & accelerating with her sexy look here (her legs go on forever), with the biggest single from "Xanadu".

2

"Emotional Rescue" by The Rolling Stones

(#7 last week) Weird how both Paul McCartney & Mick Jagger both are singing in falsetto at the same time on their respective hits. Mick wrote the song on an electric piano and from the beginning it was sung in falsetto (similar to Marvin Gaye's lead vocal on his 1977 hit "Got To Give It Up".. When the song was brought into the studio they kept the electric piano and falsetto lead. With Ron Wood on bass & Charlie Watts on drums they worked out the song. They then added the sax. Bill Wyman plays synthesizer on the record, while Jagger and Ian Stewart play electric piano..

1

"It's Still Rock & Roll To Me" by Billy Joel

(#1 last week; 6th week at #1) Billy's biggest hit single! It was so ubiquitous that Weird Al did a parody, "It's Still Billy Joel To Me". From one of my all-time favorite albums, "Glass Houses". This is actually my least-favorite song on the album, maybe because it gets played so much to this day.